


what comes after

by remy (iamremy)



Series: askbox prompts (multifandom) [14]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, M/M, Mentions of Robb Stark, Post-Canon, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, jon talks about what he saw when he was dead, mentions of Lyanna Stark - Freeform, mentions of ned stark - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 22:51:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20713853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamremy/pseuds/remy
Summary: anonymous asked:Do Jonmund 🌀) you are the bestPrompt is "afterlife". Jon finally admits to Tormund that he remembers what happened after he'd died.





	what comes after

“I lied,” Jon says abruptly.

Tormund pauses halfway through skinning a rabbit. “What?”

“I lied,” Jon repeats. “The Red Lady once asked me what comes after death. I lied to her.”

“What’d you say?” Tormund asks, letting his knife dangle from his fingers.

“I told her there was nothing,” Jon says. He’s not sure what this is about, why he’s feeling this sudden need to get this off his chest. “But that’s not true.”

“Where is this coming from?” Tormund asks carefully.

Jon shrugs. “I don’t know,” he replies, completely honest. “It just sort of… came into my head, and I had to tell someone.”

Tormund accepts this answer, and picks the half-skinned rabbit up again. “So what comes after death?” he asks, as casual as if discussing the weather.

“I saw my father,” Jon says after a moment. “And Robb. But it wasn’t like - they weren’t like they had been, when they died. And we were in Winterfell, but it wasn’t like how it is now, either. It looked like the way it did just before we’d all left. And Robb looked that age, too.”

“What were they doing?” Tormund inquires as he slips the rabbit’s skin off in one deft move.

“I don’t remember,” Jon tells him truthfully. “It felt like a strange dream. I just know they were there. In fact… I think my mother was, too.”

“Oh.” Tormund pauses again, looking surprised, completely unmindful of the blood running down his hands. “Did you see her, then?”

Jon shakes his head. “She always seemed to be just a little out of sight. Like if I turned around I could see her, but I never did. It was almost like a game she was playing with me.”

“You didn’t know who she was then, did you?”

“No,” Jon answers. “Maybe that’s why I couldn’t see her. I could hear her laugh, though.”

“What did she sound like?” Tormund asks, curious.

“I don’t remember,” Jon answers, and bites his lower lip to maintain his composure. He’s a man grown and the last thing he needs right now is to get teary over his mother like a child. “I’ve tried so hard to remember, but I just… _can’t_.”

The rabbit is ready to cook now, and Jon watches as Tormund spears it on a stake and puts it over the fire. He doesn’t say anything, though, and Jon knows he’s giving him a few moments to compose himself. He loves him for it so much.

“But this means I’ll see her again, right?” he says eventually. “If there is a place we go to after we die, and she’s there… I’ll see her again, right?” He doesn’t mean to sound as desperate as he does, but he can’t really help it either.

“Looks like it,” Tormund agrees. He takes a deep breath, turns the rabbit over, and then faces Jon. “Look, little crow, there’s not a lot I know about these things. Up here in the North we don’t pay much attention to what happens after we die. We worry more about remaining alive. But this much I _can _say – wherever she is, whether or not you’ll see her again… she’d be proud of you.”

“You think so?” Jon wants so badly to believe it, to believe that he’s someone Lyanna Stark could love and be proud of.

“Aye, I do,” Tormund replies, completely serious. “It’s not every man that can save a whole kingdom from a fate worse’n death, Jon Snow. That needs the kind of courage you don’t find in just about anyone. For that at the very least, she’d be proud of you.”

“I really hope so,” Jon says quietly after a moment of thought. “I really do, Tormund.”

“Hope all you want,” Tormund replies, confident. “But I _know_ it. Both her, and her brothers. Your father and uncle.”

Jon smiles faintly. “Suppose I’ll have to wait and find out for myself.”

“Not for a good hundred years though,” warns Tormund, and then grins. “You still got a lot to do down here before you go running off up there.”

“Like what?” Jon asks.

“Like helping me cook this rabbit,” Tormund replies at once. “Come now, little crow, dinner won’t roast itself.”

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is much appreciated!
> 
> love,  
remy


End file.
